Why I am a Free Trader.

London: [The Review of Reviews,], 1905. The right to cheap food First edition, first impression, of Churchill's first published statement of his stance on the free trade question after he crossed the floor in 1904, published as a pamphlet as the first in the series Coming Men on Coming Questions, and here bound with the rest of the series. Churchill's staunch belief in free trade was the focus of his political activities in this period. The Conservative Party's move towards protectionism - "fair trade" - spearheaded by Joseph Chamberlain led to Churchill abandoning the party for the Liberals in 1904. "Churchill attacked his former party with a ferocity that gave rise to lasting enmities and the accusation that he was a turncoat. Churchill shrugged off charges of opportunism. It was the Conservatives, he argued, who had abandoned their principles" (ODNB). Churchill sets out his two key arguments: free trade makes food as cheap as possible, and the Briton should have the right to buy whatever they wish without interference by the state. The campaigning journalist W. T. Stead arranged the series, which offered 26 politicians an opportunity to set forth their views on an issue they deemed important. Stead contributed a preface to each, notes Lord Dufferin's statement that by age 26 Churchill had achieved "a finer series of military adventures than half of the general officers in Europe", and concludes: "Since then in politics he has beaten his own record in war and in journalism. Hence I put him down as Coming Man, No.1". The 26 numbers were subsequently re-published as a single volume. Provenance: the collection of Donald Scott Carmichael (with his bookplate to the front pastedown); the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 US elections (his book label is loosely inserted). 26 pamphlets bound in one, octavo (238 x 155 mm). Contemporary green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Each part bound with front wrapper but without terminal advertisements and rear wrapper. Binding worn but holding, contents browned. A good copy. Cohen A15.